not going to take it anymore, tomorrow is the show for you. it will inspire you, i hope. if the president were here, he'd say, fired up? eddie to go? that's tomorrow, from new york, good night, america. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute ---www.ncicap.org--- bret: next on "special report" president obama tries to rally support for tough action against iran while israel's prime minister seethes against iran's threats against his nation, a ground-based missile shield protecting europe from iranian missiles is no longer in the u.s. plans. we'll get exclusive reaction from the president of poland. a healthcare plan used by many poor seniors could be sacrificed on the altar of healthcare reform, and we'll reveal what the white house says is the principal reason for a reconsideration of war strategy in afghanistan. all that, plus the fox all-stars, right here, right now.

welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. the cusp of the world without nuclear weapons has been talked about since the first nuclear war was detonated and now president obama is trying to keep one particular nation from joining the nuclear weapons fraternity. wendell goler has the story. >> the draft resolution has been adopted unanimously. >> it was a day the president took symbolic and substantive teps toward the international cooperation that he believes the u.s. strayed too far from after the 9/11 attacks. mr. obama became the first u.n. president to chair the u.n. security council and urges support that urges a nuclear-free world. >> i promise we will pursue a new agreement with russia to substantially reduce our strategic warheads and launches. >> he also ordered secretary of state clinton to rejoin

talks on a test ban treaty ten years after a republican-led senate rejected it. >> we are glad to be back. >> in large part, the focus of the day was iran and stopping its uranium enrichment program. wednesday evening, president mahmoud jadz ahmadinejad accused the weapons council of using a pretext to oppress his country. >> of all the resources in the world, to impede the scientific and technological progress of other nations under the pretext of countering arms proliferation. >> on wednesday, benjamin netanyahu angrily waived the minutes of a 1942 paper on the eradication of jews and for the auschwitz death camp and he condemned the holocaust. >> the most urging challenge facing this body today is to prevent the tyrants of tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons

are the members of the united nations up to that challenge? >> back in the security council, several members suggested that iran is the world's line in the sand. >> if we want the world without nuclear weapons in the end, let us not accept violations of international rules. >> iran must not allow its actions to prevent the international community from moving forward to a more peaceful era. >> but there was less support for tougher sanctions from russia's president, and outright resistance in beijing. >> we believe that sanctions and exerting pressure are not the way to solve problems, and are not conducive for the current diplomatic efforts on the iran nuclear issue. >> china made no promise to reduce its own nuclear aresenal and the security resolution doesn't require any nation to do so, but arms control experts from both parties applauded the prospect of new momentum towards a nuclear-free world. >> we are in a race between cooperation and catastrophe.

i think that's what this day is all about. >> i imagine ronald reagan is smiling, and he deserves to smile. >> just a week from now, the u.s. joins the talks on the nuclear programs for the first time and officials say if tehran doesn't seriously negotiate, there will be a serious push for tougher sanctions, and that may be the first test of whether this new level of u.s. internationalism is paying off. bret. bret: wendell goler live on the north lawn. thank you. earlier today i talked with the polish president about the obama administration decision to scap plans for a ground based european defense shield partially based in poland, plans centered on iran's growing capabilities. >> this missile shield plan, this move to do it was a strong signal to iran, but it is now moved that the central european region will be forever outside a certain tier of influence. of course, you can never use

the word "forever" in politics, but from our point of view, it was a very important view for us. >> i will have more of that interview later in the show. right now, back to the united nations where the world leader who last year referred to then president bush as a devil threw a few more more arrows at the former president. eric shawn is live with that story. good evening, eric. >> good evening, bret. no more smell, that's what hugo chavez said to the general assembly, and yet he was true to form. it was another rambling stream of consciousness discourse that touched on everything from music and movies and george bush. remember he talked about george bush as the devil? he referred to the podium that it smelled of sulfur because the pez had spoken there. that came up again and he also expressed concern for the safety of president obama. >> i hope god will protect

obama from the bullets that killed kennedy. i hope obama will be able to look and see, genuinely see what has to be seen and bring about a change. it doesn't smell of sulfur here anymore. it doesn't smell of sulfur. it's gone. no, it smells of something else. it smells of hope. >> well, they just can't get george bush out of his mind. he asked president obama to join the axis of evil using that moment of reference from his speech, and made reference to the shoe-throwing incident and praised oliver stone behind the movie, w, yes, behind george bush. i bet hugo chavez dreams about george bush and i bet hugo chavez really does deeply miss

george bush. bret. bret: the smell of hope. eric shawn live at the u.n thank you. well, president obama is in pittsburgh at this hour greeting leaders if the world's top industrial nations participating in the g 20 summit. senior white house correspondent major garrett is live in pittsburgh to tell us what is on the jen dax good evening, major. >> good evening, bret. we are overlooking the allegany river. the president and first lady are here greeting members of the g20 at the ceremonial dinner. today there was a dustup on the streets in pittsburgh, an unauthorized protest march that the police responded to quickly, some tear gas canisters were thrown. no arrests are, no injuries. that was doused request quickly. there is a tremendous security presence, federal security, local police, and lots of barricades at the convention center which is walled off from the city of pittsburgh, but it is a very safe environment. secretary tim geithner briefed us here and said a couple of

interesting things, one that this meeting will be about future financial regulation not just for the united states but globally, and he said because this worldwide recession was started by financial mismanagement, now is not the time to deather on new regulations. let's listen p >> we will not walk away from the greatest crisis since the great depression. let us not walk away from the things that led to this crisis. >> he will talk about financial regulations on pay globally and he says time is of the essence there. again, that is the secretary. >> we don't want to see these reforms take effect two years from now or next year. we want them to take effect now, so the effect of the compensation practice is today, not tomorrow, and they bring about reforms in compensation by the end of this calendar year. >> no matter how confident the secretary was, he acknowledged

congress is looking at that reform and yes, the administration has to wait for the congress to proceed. bret: major garrett live in pittsburgh, thanks. sales of previously owned homes were down 2.7% in august after a four-month streak of gains. and new jobless benefits claims were down last week by 21,00 so. stocks were also down today. the dow dropped 41 and change. the sch 500 lost just over ten. the nasdaq gave back almost 24. are you destroying the earth every time you walk into the bathroom? , and will healthcare reform legislation destroy some yean yores' chances of keeping the same -- some seniors' chances of keeping the same medical care?

bret: the tresh i department will conduct an investigation of acorn. the inspector general says he will review the i.r.s.' oversight of acorn and other

fan post groups, the latest fallout from yun union der cover videos shown on fox news. in addition to, that the house will vote friday on a provision in a stopgap funding bill that prohibits any federal funds from going to acorn. senate democrats today used a procedural tactic to kill an amendment that would have imposed congressional oversight on some 18 czars appointed by the obama administration. democrats had earlier signaled they were ready to approve the measure but were pressed by the white house to get rid of it. the healthcare coverage system used by millions of seniors is becoming ground zero in the fight over the latest healthcare reform bill. jim angle tells us what is at stake. >> as the senate continued to wrangle over healthcare, republicans argue thatdz proposed cuts in healthcare and especially a program called medicare advantage would flatly violate one of the president's pledges. >> so when the president says if you like your coverage you

get to keep it, the answer is that's not true for those people. >> because that program would be cut by $12320 billion reducing benefits. representatives of is supple supplemental programs that functions like a h.m.o. and one in four seniors use it, 11 million in all, but president obama dismissed the program as nothing but lining the pockets of insurance companies. >> people currently signed up for medicare advantage are going to have medicare, and the same level of imen fits. >> the government pays a 14% higher people yum but supporters of medicare advantage say the president is flat wrong in suggesting it has the same benefits as medicare. >> we found that 98% of that premium goes into traditional benefits for seniors. >> half to sign up have incomes of $20,000 a year and cannot afford a supplemental

plan. >> people will have to pay for programs that medicare doesn't cover many >> bill nelson says it would be unconscionable to undermine the program. >> it is a non-starter and particularly a non-starter to any senior having difficulty making ends meet. >> so he called for extending it and later phasing it out but in some rural areas, seniors have no other alternatives. >> in washington they have good care, but in our part of the country, it is a lifeline. >> we have 120 counties, and in 100 counties, there's no other coverage other than medicare advantage. >> senators need the money from medicare advantage and other medicare programs to help cover the cost of healthcare reform, and if it doesn't come from there, it has to be found somewhere else. that's the swamp senators are

up to their knees in. bret. bret: jim, thank you. well, tuesday we told you that the government has warned medicare advantage contractors not to tell subscribers about the reform bill's potential effect on their benefits. republicans say it is a gag order and today several senators called on kathleen sebelius to lift it. they say they will not allow the president to kill health posts in the department until that happens. the price tag of the reform plan is also sometimes a bitter contention. here is chief political correspondent carl cameron with that part of the story. >> tempers are flaring. senatorial civility is increasingly scarce. >> we put on a study that looked at -- mr. chairman, let me complete my thought. >> you have one minute to complete your thought. >> i'll complete my thought and then make another point. >> mr. chairman, i am not delaying! i'm making an extremely important point. >> it's a very important point but you're also delaying.

>> it's court yus if you don't interrupt somebody in the middle of a sentence of an important point. >> lawmakers both complained that they're not getting answers from the non-partisan congressional budget office about the cost of their healthcare proposals. >> do we have any more information overnight on c.b.o.'s scoring of amendments that are pending? did we get any report overnight? >> i don't think it's anything we want to discuss publicly. >> aides say baucus was joking no c.b.o. analysis has been released. lawmakers killed an amendment by bill nelson aimed at getting $100 billion from the drug industry to help low-income seniors. fellow democrats say it could hurt a deal made with the drug companies in exchange for supporting reform. >> the unintended consequence is that i think this may well undermine our ability to pass

comprehensive healthcare reform in this congress. >> sirtely every g.o.p. amendment has been defeated, including one putting into law the pez's pledge that no one will be forced to change coverage. >> the insurance that americans can keep the coverage they have, this is one of the major points that the president has made over and over and over, and i think we ought at least to try to help that happen if we can. >> democrats were unanimous and killed it. there is no cost analysis still offered up by the congressional budget office, but the staff has said there are changes when they crunch the numbers. the price tag has gone up. it was $856 billion last week, and today it is $900 billion and counting. >> at some point they will talk about the c.b.o. estimate, right? >> at some point, but they won't put it on the calendar yet. bret: thanks. deval pat tick has officially and pointed paul kirk to temporarily fill the seat of the late senator ted kennedy. kirk will serve in the post

until voters pick a replacement in a special election in january. kirk is a kennedy family friend who has served on the late senator's staff for eight years. he is also the executor of kennedy's will. he will be sworn in friday giving senate democrats and their their allies a 60-vote super majority. douglas wilder is refusing to back the current democratic candidate in virginia. wilder says his endorsement was sought but that he has concerns about creigh deeds' views on guns an taxes, saying deeds and mcdonnell are honorable men. mcdonnell picked up the endorsement today of the fraternal order of police. we will tell you what is behind the possible formulation of another new strategy in afghanistan and why the u.s. decision to scrap a european-based missile shield has the president of poland worried about rush sla. russia.

bret: poland has been a strong ally to the u.s., contributing 15,000 troops to the iraq war over the past five years with 2,000 more soldiers currently in afghanistan. today he spoke with the polish president about how he felt when he learned of the u.s. decision to reverse course on last year's plans for a european missile shield. >> i considered the agreement to be a success, and i worked very hard to bring about the deal and make it successful. i would like to be honest with you and let's just say i did everything i could to finalize the deal. i can not say i was happy. it was a very important deal

for us. >> the announcement came on the day which was the 70th an anniversary of russia invading poland. >> i don't think it was done intentionally. i excluded such a possibility, but it was an unfortunate coincidence, yes. bret: is there a new deal for shorter-range missiles to be located inside poland? >> well, the details have been not worked out yet. i hope it will be, but what is important in politics is timing. there is a certain difference between the policy of the previous government and the current government with regard to the missile shield. the previous government has no doubt whatsoever if the process would be started in congress. then today we would have begun a different situation. bret: do you think russia was emboldened by this decision? >> russia is always bold, but it was encouraged.

then it becomes even bolder. >> do you think there was a quid pro quo between the missile shield not being put in and russia signing off on sanctions? >> i think there is a broader problem. i think one belief is that russia will become a constructive factor in the region, but being a politician, i have to ask this question -- what is russia's interest in this? if someone shows he me that they have good intentions, they have to prove t one thing is certain, they have great literature and great artworks.

bret: are you concerned about the future? >> well, there is gas weapons, oil weapons and other instruments to be used in a subtle way. that's what i'm concerned about. bret: the obama administration says it wants to reset its relationship with russia. are you worried about the reset and how it will affect your country? >> well, the united states, like any other country in the world, it can be right, it can be wrong. bret: is it wrong? >> so far we don't know it. the united states can play a constructive ol' in the world because it is a big country but the development in russia doesn't give any indication that this is how it will continue, that this will be so. bret: thank you to the polish president for that interview

today. well, if you think the main steam media are in the president's pocket, you have plenty of company, and is it proper for public school students to sing praises to president obama? we report. you decide. @@

bret: public school officials in burlington, new jersey are being accused of

indoctrinating their students by showing students being taught songs overflowing with praise for president obama. we have obscured the faces of the students. ♪ barack hussein obama he said that all must lend a hahn barack hussein obama mmm mmm he said we must be clear today ♪ bret: the superintendent of schools sent a letter to parents saying the songs were related to black his ti month last february. he did not say whether the parents were told at the time or that the children could opt out of the activity. the president of the local parent-teacher organization said she was numb when she saw the video. most of the people surveyed think the media helped get president obama elected. the sacred heart university poll

said that 70% of people are prey moating his presidency through the media and 69% sate it is without objective criticism. the newest battleground in the environmental wars is your bathroom. "the washington post" reports environmentalists are going after the makers and users of extra soft three-ply toilet paper saying it is made from trees that are decades, even centuries old. they want folks to use recycled paper instead. the paper companies say consumers just don't care, quote, that is a segment of consumers that is quite demanding of products that soft. and the san joaquin county sheriff's department in california spent a half million dollars on a state-of-the-art mobile emergency command center but now they have to spend $20,000 more to make it street legal. the manufacturer in ohio built the vehicle that was legal there, but about 2,000 pounds

too heavy for california, so deputies have to drive it all the way back to ohio where the builders will put on another axle to make it legal in the sunshine state. there are a lot of questions about just how legal the recent afghanistan elections were, and that is said to be behind a white house reexamination of war strategy. tonight, national security correspondent jennifer griffin reports this isn't the first time the honesty of afghanistan's leader has been disputed. >> afghan president karzai has long surrounded himself with questionable characters. before the august 20 election, he reached out to warlord drug runner, his own brocter, accused in 2004 and 2006 of dealing in opium. 1.1 million of his 3.1 million votes are currently in question. voters arrived to find all the ballots filled out at some polling stations.

the obama administration says the election is the reason the president is rethinking his strategy. >> the election is inconclusive at one level, but if you read the report and read the review of any counterinsurgency, it is dependent on the government and its legitimacy to its people. >> but dennis blair warned in february before the president announced his new afghan strategy to expect fraud and inconclusive results, quote "the issue of contention now is the gap between the august 20 election date and the election results are, which are expected to take nearly a month to count." additionally, if there is a runoff election, the debate over executive authority will be extended. >> this election should be a surprise to no one. when i was in afghanistan last year, i heard from sergeants and generals that the biggest impediment to progress in afghanistan is corruption, by its president and by the president's crooked drug dealing brother. >> now republicans suspecting the white house may be trying to

stifle the commander's views are calling for general stan mcchrystal to come back to washington to testify. >> unfortunately, it now appears the president has developed a sudden case of buyer's remorse. >> the real reason they're doing a strategy review is based around sticker shock. >> mcchrystal's anticipated request for up to 40,000 more u.s. troops is expected tomorrow. in response from republican calls for mcchrystal to testify on capitol hill, tonight, pest sec tear press secretary robert gates tells us that gates is more than willing to have him come back to capitol hill to testify after the strategy has been reviewed. bret: jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. thank you. in news around the world, thousands of supporters have ousted manuel zelaya marched toward the brazilian embassy after the government lifted a curfew, where zelaya has taken refuge, but the protestors were blocked by armed forces who used

tear gas to disperse them. honduran police say they have arrested more than 100 people. in iraq, a manhunt is underway for five al qaeda prisoners awaiting execution and 11 inmates who broke out of a prison late wednesday. the city of tickets is now -- tick crit is now under a curfew. arms control, middle east peace and iran. those were the big topics at the united nations general assembly. we will get the thoughts from the fox all-stars when we come back. boss: so word's gettin' out that geico can help people save in even more ways -

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follow all dosing instructions. stop taking actonel and tell your doctor if you experience difficult or painful swallowing, chest pain or severe or continuing heartburn. these may be signs of serious upper digestive problems. promptly tell your doctor if you develop severe bone, joint or muscle pain, or if you develop dental problems, as serious jawbone problems have been reported rarely. the more you know about osteoporosis, the more you'll want to ask your doctor if once-a-month actonel is right for you. (announcer) if you can't afford your medication, visit actonel.com to find out how the alliance for better bone health may be able to help. >> this is not about singling out individual nations. it is about standing up for the rights of all nations who do live up to their responsibilities. the world must stand together, and we must demonstrate that international law is not an empty promise, and that treaties will be enforced. >> the greatest threat facing the world today is the marriage between religious fundamentalism

and the weapons of mass destruction. the most urgent challenge facing this body today is to prevent the tyrants of tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. bret: israeli prime minister asking is the united nations up to the task? president obama chaired the u.n. security council, the first american president to do so today, and also won unanimous support for a legislation urging a nuclear-free world starting with america, but the problem is that resolution is non-binding, so what was accomplished today and what about the speechs? let's bring in the panel. steve hayes with "the weekly standard" and a.b. stoddard of the hill and syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. charles, the president spoke today and today he was at the u.n. security council. what did he accomplish? >> nothing. this is surreal. as we speak, the irraunians -- the iranians are developing uranium and the american

delegate at iaea announces that iran has enough uranium to construct a bomb. they are testing miss missiles, flouting all u.n. resolutions as are the north koreans and the response of america, the president of the united states, on camera, of course, presides over a perfectly useless meeting of the security council and passes a perfectly useless resolution airly declaring the end of nuclear weapons. look, my model u.n. in high school was more real es stick than this security council. the resolution as you pointed out, isn't even binding, and the problem is that the assumption of of obama is that the reason that these rogue states are assuming nukes is because we have not led by example rather than the obvious, that they want the prestige and the power of having a nuke. in fact, in the '80's and the '90's, when we radically reduced

our aresenals, it is precisely when iran and korea launched their ambitions and nuclear programs. i think he accomplished nothing, but he exposed us to ridicule about the facetiousness of this administration. bret: sam nunn and george schultz, former secretary of state, praised this resolution. what happened today? >> it is a step forward in that if you are restrictions on nuclear exports, if they could work, that would help. it is true that a lot has to be done before we realize whether or not they have teeth and they're going to help and going to work. no president can come into this, into the u.n. general assembly and wave a madge waive a magic wand. i think, president obama, who keeps his enemies closer than he

does his friends, has made a gamble on the missile shield, and i think that he is one that obviously has disappointed our eastern european allies and is one that he hopes will prod the russians towards finally backing further sanctions towards iran. his push, this must succeed, because his push for a settlement freeze with the israelis did not serve to trap them. it only trapped the obama administration. at this point, this scandal needs to pay off. as we look to geneva and the talks with iran, they are not going to play ball, so at this point, are russia has to deliver for him. bret: steve. >> if russia delivers he has still china to deal with. in some respects, this general assembly was just like every other one, a lot of sort of silly diplomatic speak, people feeling very important about passing things that don't matter, that nobody will pay attention to, but in another respect it was different, i think, because for the first time you had the president of the united states, i would say

in some respects, leading the anti-american critics. he was making criticisms of the united states that i think we haven't ever seen from the president of the united states. he was doing it in a forum where he knew it would win him the approval of rogue state dictators and others, europeans and others around the world, so in that sense, i think it was different. i think when we look back on this as we head into the 2012 elections or when historians look back on this moment, this will be -- there have been several low points of the obama station on foreign policy and national security policy. there has been the investigations of c.i.a. interrogators, the cairo speech, the archive speech, capitulating to iran and north korea, but i think this will be, in a way, clarifying, because what you had was the president of the united states doing a dance basically to gain the approval of and allies in name only or in some cases enemies, and in some cases

it's deeply disturbing. bret: i talked with the president of poland today and he had some interesting things to say about that. your thoughts after listening to that interview from what the polish president said. >> polish people understand that what obama had done had nothing to do ultimately with iran. it's about the position and the status and the independence of east european states that were once under soviet rule. with the missile shield, they had a sense that they had a guarantee of american security. they were out of the sphere of influence of your sharks finally. all of a suddenly, it is out unilaterally because of the pressure of russia, and they understand that the obama administration has now declared that east europe has a special status hovering somewhere between russia and the west, but it is not a guaranteed element

of the west as the poles expected. it is a devastating blow to east europe, and they understand it very, very clearly. bret: the line that struck me is i asked him if it emboldened russia and he said "russia is always bold. this will make them bolder." >> the bear is on the prowl and they have been less open to its influence. bret: the big battle for healthcare reform has been a series of plans called medicare advantage, at least one of the battle grounds so who has the political advantage in all of this? the panel weighs in, next.

>> what i have said is we're not going to take a dollar out of the medicare trust fund. we're going to make sure that benefits are just as strong, if

not stronger. we're not going to subsidize insurance companies in ways that end up creating a situation that medicare is actually weaker and has a less sound financial foundation. >> the bottom of taking over $100 billion out of medicare advantage is that about 1/5 of the seniors who have medicare advantage coverage are going to see that coverage gone. bret: a lot of debate today over cuts to medicare, including you just heard there, a program called medicare advantage arc supplemental program administered by pieft insurers, acts like an h.m.o. an about 11 million seniors are in medicare advantage. there is a question about whether it should be in the final package about these cuts. we have breaking news just developing from the senate committee and we're hearing that senators chuck schumer and jay rockefeller, both democrats, tomorrow are going to introduce an amendment to insert a public option, government-unhealth insurance option into the baucus senate finance committee bill,

saying that it is in every other bill and that they need to vote on this amendment for the p public option. here we go again. we're back with the panel. >> well, the vote for the public option do not appear to exist in the senate finance committee among democrats or republicans to win, and i think -- i don't know if they're going to introduce a pilot program or trigger a watered down public option but senator snowe has made herself clear on this issue, who would like to vote for a healthcare bill and has said she wants to vote for democrats on something that addresses her concerns. this was never in the bill. it was never going to be in the bill. they have known that for many months. i expect it to go down. i think it's up to the liberals in the senate to realize that the fate of healthcare reform lies in their hands. they have the 59th and 60th vote in olympia snowe from maine and now senator kirk from plas mass. it is the liberals who will blow

this up if they don't hold to center t will not get 60 votes on the floor. bret: are we looking at the beginning of that with this amendment? >> there have been other liberal amendments to blow up the deal with the drug industry. there is a lot of resistance remaining. they have to realize they have this in hand. they have 60 votes, and it has been literally up to the liberal wing of the party now. bret: charles, on medicare advantage, it deals with cuts in medicare and the specific supplemental program. there are a lot of democrats that have a problem with these cuts including senator bill nelson from florida, ron wyden from roaring gone. it is going to be a tough sell to get this to happen. >> the reason is that the president has said if you like what you have, you keep. it the problem is that he said a quarter of seniors have this, instead of the regular medicare, and they like it. a lot of them are poor, and the reason that they like it is it is a trade-off. there is a little bit of a

restriction on who your doctor can be, however, you get benefits and the poor that can't otherwise purchase it, so the president has said on television on sunday, they will make no difference if they take it away, and once again the c.b.o. shoots an arrow right through obama's promise. it said that if you have medicare advantage, and it's abolished, you will lose half of the benefits so you are not going to keep what you have. that's the original sin of the obama proposal. at the beginning, it said you're going to get a free lunch. we're going to expand the coverage at no cost. you cannot do it. somebody has to pay and here it is going to be seniors. bret: the c.b.o. has been a major factor throughout this entire thing. steve, in today's testimony the senate chairman of that finance committee, max baucus, said we do have some new numbers from c.b.o. but we're not going to talk about them publicly. i was shocked by that statement. >> it was pretty striking.

his staff was saying that he was joking. i think we will find out in the next 24 hours whether hes actually was joking. we have been talking about this debate for months two. things have remained the same. democrats fighting democrats and the main ok obstacles to comprehensive healthcare reform come from the president's own party and two, the congressional budget office has contradicted the president on his claims again and again and again, directed by, lead die doug 'em p dove, hand picked by the democratic leaders in congress, so i think if you take a look at where we've gone -- we're talking about the public option and medicare advantage, the issue changes but the political dynamics don't necessarily change, and one more thing that has to be said about the debate over are medicaid advantage, seniors are the most skeptical group of healthcare reform overall and the ones paying the most attention to this debate. the fact that we're talking about medicare advantage, the fact that it will be the

headline in newspapers tomorrow is a huge problem for the white house. bret: it is a giant shell game as they try to figure out how to pay for it, and if you don't have that cut coming out, the medicare advantage cut, you have to find $120 billion to make it deficit neutral so the president can find it. >> they have to find savings somewhere else. i think the democrats have to look at the midterm elections of 2006 when 2/3 of the voters over 65 came. they have r. are coming back. next year's election will be about an election of the angry, not the happy. you will have to pick a constituency to make mad. limit the deductions on the rich. cover less people. subsidize less coverage and hit the poor. hit someone, but hitting seniors will result in a sear serious loss for them next year. >> charles? >> in the end, the program will fail, because you cannot expand coverage at no cost. somebody has to pay. if it's seniors, it will be devastating, because as you say,

they vote. that's why i think it's not going to happen. bret: that is it for the panel. stay tuned to see what happens when you take time to really break down and analyze leader's speeches at the u.n. general assembly. . om a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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bret: finally tonight, libyan leader moammar kadafi delivered quite a speech yesterday at the u.n. general assembly. did you happen to tune in for that? well, it was so long, people may have missed some key sections, like this one. >>